Read the full article by Joan Cusick at Sacramento News & Review
Jazz singer Shelley Burns has been performing since she was 5 years old, and she has no intention of stopping any time soon.
“Are we ever going to retire?” she asks. “Because wherever I am, I am working. … But I love everything I’m doing.”
Burns, 72, leads a weekday exercise class for older adults, teaches singing lessons, and performs with her band, Avalon Swing. As someone who started in a childhood sister quartet, she has always found the intersection of family and music. It’s magic, she says.
“It’s like that energy when you’re falling in love. You see the person you love, and you get that wonderful glow,” Burns says. “That’s what it feels like when you’re singing and the pianist and you are with each other throughout the whole song. You end the song and just look at each other. It’s like falling in love.”